Chapter 10: Cathy T

Protecting the Global Environment: From Stockholm to Rio

§ The United Nations is very instrumental in raising global awareness to the seriousness of the protection of the environment in development and natural resource depletion

§ UNEP (United Nations Environmental Programme): began in 1972 in Stockholm, Sweden. There is a huge effort to coordinate between all UN countries, with a council of 58 countries (elected for a 3-year term). UNEP was significant in the set-up of UNCED

§ UNCED (United Nations Conference on Environment and Development): created by UNEP in 1992, and was held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. At the time, it was the largest diplomatic conference. Many important decisions were made at this summit, including:

o CSD (Commission on Sustainable Development): a commission set-up which meets regularly and acts based on the decisions and conclusions of UNCED, and also has a five-year review period

o Rio Declaration: also known as the Earth Charter, created to protect the environment from the effects of industrialization and development

o Agenda 21: the core of the successes of UNCED, an action plan dedicated to the future environmental protection. The document does not encompass financial commitments from northern states to pay for it.

Transborder Environmental Issues

§ Not only do states have to worry about problems with the global commons, but they also must worry about local environmental concerns, not only in their state.

§ Transborder pollution flows from one country to another through waterways as well as the atmosphere itself. Transborder pollution does not affect everyone, but those being downstream have more problems to worry about.

§ .

§ Examples:

o Chernobyl: a city in the Ukraine, but in 1986 (was still part of the Soviet Union), a nuclear reactor had a meltdown, causing an explosion spreading airborne radioactivity throughout the continent (parts reached Italy and Sweden). Thousands of people who worked to clean-up Chernobyl lost their lives due to the after-effects of the radiation.

o Acid Precipitation: industrial centres in many industrialized countries cause problems for their neighbours (i.e. US causing acid rain in Canada). In 1988, 24 European countries signed a treaty limiting the amount of nitrogen oxide production by 1995, however, without enough funding, acid rain will continue as a problem (especially in Eastern Europe)

o Nuclear Testing, 1950’s: radioactive fallout was a result of nuclear testing in the air, raising concern about various radioactive isotopes (different types of elements) and their effects on the environment. After much concern, the US signed the Partial Test Ban Treaty, which moved all future nuclear testing underground (literally).

§ Some analysts feel that there will be future conflicts (perhaps violent) due to transborder environmental conflict of interests, as well as disputes over fresh water distribution

§ Only about 3% of the world’s water is fresh water, however, less than 1% can be accessed (since the majority can be found frozen in Arctic icecaps.

§ Water consumption has passed levels that allow sustainability; yet more than one billion people cannot access a safe water supply. The consumption itself can be broken down into 3 categories: agriculture (66%), industry (25%), and human (9%).

§ The Aral Sea: a region in Central Asia, which by human intervention had its feeding river systems diverted in order to irrigate agriculture. The Aral Sea was unable to maintain its water levels, and has dried up to become a lake about two thirds of what it used to be. The dry salt from the sea is transported by the wind into other areas, which destroys soil and is poisonous to people.

§ Hydropolitics: a term coined to address conflicts due to water resources. The conflict for water is more severe in areas with drier climates (Northern Africa and the Middle East). Water shortage is a reality for many areas of the world, and will continue due to the expansion of the population and economic growth. Conflicts may arise very shortly.

Antarctica (314-316) By: Nima B.

o Important place: waters contain diversified ecosystem

o World’s largest wildlife sanctuary

o “window on the sky” and “window on the past”

o

Antarctic Treaty System (ATS) - signed in 1959 by 12 consultative parties with claims on Antarctica and able to demonstrate a substantial scientific interest in Antarctica.

o Established the area as a demilitarized zone; various subsequent agreements have been added:

Convention on the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR):

o Manages Antarctic resources ( as a whole, not by territorial lines)

o Living resources can be harvested only if (1) ecological relationships are unchanged, (2) ecological changes are reversible within 2-3 decades and (3) harvesting does not interfere with the recovery of depleted populations.

Convention on the Regulation of Antarctic Mineral Resource Activities (CRAMRA).

o Highly controversial agreement: managed mining for exploration and then exploitation (even little mining would destroy Antarctic ecosystem).

o Never established (Australia and France didn’t sign- both consultative parties).

October 4, 1991, Madrid, Spain- Protocol on Environment Protection to the Antarctic Treaty was signed

o Designated Antarctica a natural reserve- all mineral resources activities were prohibited for at least 50 years.

o Antarctica not legally recognized within UN framework, as part of the global commons

o Antarctica has no military/economic benefits: said to be worthless

Climate Change (316-319)

o Most political attention placed on global warming and ozone-layer depletion

o Geneva, July 1996: 57 European insurance firms urged national delegates to hold a climate change conference to reduce emissions

o Kyoto, Japan, December 1997: states committed themselves to self-imposed limitations by year 2000 (Kyoto calls for cuts averaging just over 5% from 1990 levels).

o Problem behind implementing Kyoto protocol: the competitive nature of the world economy will limit states willingness to sacrifice economic growth for the sale of future generations unless they are sure that all states will comply (idealistic).

o One of the main causes of global warming is deforestation

o The problem is expected to get worse: carbon dioxide emissions are expected to increase between 1997 and 2020 from 6175 million metric tones to 10 009 million metric tones per year.

o Questions of global climate change is unpredictable

o UN Environment Programme is working with the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) to measure changes in climate (many other institutions do the same).

o The other major problem related to climate change: ozone layer- which protects humans from ultraviolet radiation from the sun

o Chemicals known as chlorofluorocarbons (CFC’s) have damaged the ozone layer

o Ozone defects could ultimately disrupt entire ecosystems and immune systems

o Montreal Protocol (1987)- dealt with problem of ozone- layer depletion

o By 1992 most industrial states agreed to unilaterally phase out CFC use by 1995

o Government sales prohibition of Freon- a major ozone depleting substance- has caused a flourishing black market: Operation Cool Breeze (Thomas A. Watts- Fitzgerald) - Freon investigation.

Profile 10.2- The Montreal Connection.

Montreal has become an important centre for international organizations dealing with environmental problems.